Wednesday, July 6, 2011

The recent faceoff that has American commanders worried about an accidental war with Iran:

A British warship fires warning shots at a fast-approaching speedboat - believed Iranian - in an unpublicized incident in April that adds to concerns about continuing tensions in the Persian Gulf, and the chance of an unintended outbreak of hostilities there.

The video shows the speedboat powering parallel to the British warship HMS Iron Duke, which was patrolling off of Bahrain, and then turning directly towards it. Foghorns blaring, gunners on the Iron Duke then fired 100 yards to the side of the speedboat, causing its two crew members to duck and stop – they then wave at the British sailors as they speed away.

While talk in region remains focused on whether the United States or Israel will attack Iran, another large fear is the possibility of an unscripted, accidental war, spurred by a small clash that spins out of control. In January 7, 2008, five Iranian speedboats darted around three U.S. warships in the Straits of Hormuz in the Persian Gulf; no shots were fired. Then-President Bush said it was a provocative act, the Iranians said there was no confrontation.

1 comment:

There was a case in 2002/3 where a 'Boghammer' attempted to play silly bugger with a certain HMCS. After about 30min of 'High Speed Manoeuvre Drills', during which the Boghammer was 'almost swamped' numerous times, the ship let the Iranian craft return to harbour. Subsequently, the IIRN side-stepped the follow-on HMCS.,